Between the Lines

Ashley Lister talks with Mitzi Szereto

Most readers and writers of erotic fiction will be familiar with the name of Mitzi Szereto.  Mitzi is an erotic author in her own right, with the highly regarded M S Valentine titles to her credit, and she is also the renowned anthologist behind such titles as the Erotic Travel Tales anthologies, Wicked: Sexy Tales of Legendary Lovers, Getting Even: Revenge Stories, The New Black Lace Book of Women’s Sexual Fantasies, and Dying For It: Tales of Sex and Death.  Mitzi’s latest title to hit the shelves is the re-release of her Cleis title In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed. 

Ashley Lister: In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed is more than a simple collection of erotic stories based around a loose theme of fairy-tale precedents.  It’s a collection of fiction with each story introduced by an explanation of the background and researched lineage.  Why did you approach the subject in this fashion?

Mitzi Szereto: I wanted to put the tales into some kind of context. People take fairy tales for granted; they’ve always been around, no one gives much thought to where they originated from. I thought it might be interesting to find out. However, for my book I didn’t want to only use tales that we in the Western world are familiar with – I wanted to expand into non-Western cultures as well, such as India and the Middle East. I’ve always enjoyed reading literature from that part of the world and thought I’d add a dash of more exotic spice into the fairy tale pot. As for the actual writing of my versions, I worked backward, in that I wrote the stories first, then I researched them. I didn’t want anything to influence the creative process. Or should I say the corruptive process!

Ashley Lister: Did any of the histories you encountered surprise you?

Mitzi Szereto: I wasn’t really aware that so many of the fairy tales we read or had read to us as children originally contained sexual content. Mind you, it was only in more recent times that they were turned into morality tales directed toward children, some with heavy-duty subliminal messages, such as “Little Red Riding Hood”. As we have seen, it wasn’t deemed suitable by those who wrote these new interpretations to retain the old sexual references. Oddly, they had no problem with violence and, in fact, in many cases actually ratcheted it up. But sex? That seemed to be a no-go area. In a way I’ve restored some of the integrity of the original tales, though I must admit, I really warped the hell out of them!

Ashley Lister: Aside from In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed, you are also the editor behind the very successful series of Erotic Travel Tales anthologies.  Why do you think readers find travel to be such an erotic experience?   

Mitzi Szereto: I think readers probably associate travel with eroticism because it’s the one activity that can take you away from routine and from your normal every-day environment. When you travel you can become someone else, behave as you might not typically behave, free yourself from your normal constraints. Nobody knows you. Now I’m not saying everyone who travels does this, but the opportunity is there – and so too, is the fantasy that goes along with it. Of course in today’s grim economy, you can simply stay home and read one of my Erotic Travel Tales books. It’s a lot cheaper, and you don’t have to worry about getting into trouble!

Ashley Lister: I know that recently you’ve been concentrating your efforts on Mitzi TV.  Could you tell us a little more about this project?

Mitzi Szereto: So glad you asked! Mitzi TV is an internet television channel I recently launched. It takes a quirky look at the offbeat and eccentric side of London, showing an aspect to the city most tourists and locals never get a chance to see or experience. Segments so far have included me joining in with some "locals" at a lively pub singalong; chatting about classic cars with Formula 1 racecar driver/BBC TV presenter Tiff Needell and couture shoe designer Jimmy Choo; prowling the city streets in pursuit of the famous Cockney delicacy, the jellied eel; hanging out in the English countryside with a local chapter of Harley Davidson riders; and visiting a teddy bear festival with my famous furry companion Teddy Tedaloo. And I’m lining up even more random madness as we speak! I’m now looking into sponsorship for the channel, which will be the next stage of business.

Ashley Lister:  Finally, can you tell us about your other projects?

Mitzi Szereto: Well, I have my blog Errant Ramblings, which covers a wide range of topics: from my experiences as an American expat in the UK, to social media, book publishing, the internet, music gigs, travel – pretty much anything and everything, including a few rants. It’s really more a series of personal essays than a traditional blog, and always with a bit of humour attached. I’m also starting up another internet venture, which will be a newspaper/blog hybrid. I hope to get that up and running before the year’s end. I’m quite excited about it and believe it will appeal to a wide audience. As for the book business, I have some ideas in mind, so I guess it’s safe to say that I’m juggling a lot of balls. Hmm… that sounds really wrong, doesn’t it?

Ashley Lister
November 2009

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"Between the Lines" © 2009 Ashley Lister. All rights reserved.

About the Author:  Ashley Lister is a UK author responsible for more than two-dozen erotic novels written under a variety of pseudonyms. His most recent work, Swingers: True Confessions from Today's Modern Swinging Scene (Virgin Books; ISBN: 0753511355), a non-fiction book recounting the exploits of UK swingers, is his first title published under his own name.
Ashley's non-fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Forum, Chapter & Verse and The International Journal of Erotica.  Nexus, Chimera and Silver Moon have published his full-length fiction, with shorter stories appearing in anthologies edited by Maxim Jakubowski, Rachel Kramer Bussel and Mitzi Szereto.  He is very proud to be a regular contributor to ERWA.
Websites: www.ashleylister.co.uk / ashleylister.blogspot.com

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